Italian Defense Minister Roberta Pinotti was on Tuesday holding talks with Lebanese officials on the support to the Lebanese army and ways to improve its capabilities.

“This is my first visit abroad since my appointment as defense minister,” the state-run National News Agency quoted her as saying.

Air traffic controllers suspended on Tuesday work at Beirut's Rafik Hariri International Airport for two hours to protest the cabinet's failure to include them in the new wage scale draft-law.

Inbound and outbound flights from the airport were suspended as the air traffic will resume normally at 12:00 p.m.

The army deployed heavily on Tuesday in the northern city of Tripoli as it started implementing a security plan established by the government to end violence in the area, as President Michel Suleiman urged officials to deal firmly with all who violate the peace.

Army units began deploying heavily since 6:00 a.m. in al-Qobbeh area and Jabal Mohsen.

President Michel Suleiman chaired on Monday a national dialogue session that stressed the importance of an agreement on a defense strategy given a rise in terrorist threats and amid a boycott by the majority of March 8 camp's representatives and Lebanese Forces chief Samir Geagea from the March 14 alliance.

Suleiman had invited the rival leaders for a new session of all-party talks at Baabda Palace to discuss the controversial issue of Hizbullah’s arsenal or the so-called national defense strategy.

Hizbullah officially announced Sunday its boycott of a national dialogue session scheduled for Monday, after party chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah hinted Saturday that the group's representative was inclined to shun the all-party talks.

“We have informed officials at the presidential palace in Baabda that the party has decided not to take part in tomorrow's session,” head of Hizbullah's Loyalty to Resistance bloc MP Mohammed Raad told al-Manar TV.

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat announced Sunday that he and Speaker Nabih Berri will take part in Monday's national dialogue session at the Baabda Palace.

“We thoroughly discussed the Arab and regional developments,” Jumblat said after meeting Berri at the speaker's headquarters in Ain al-Tineh. He was accompanied by Health Minister Wael Abou Faour.

President Michel Suleiman expressed regret on Sunday over the decision by some parties not to attend all-party talks a day before they kick off at the Baabda Palace under his auspices.

“I hope that the parties that decided to boycott the National Dialogue would participate in upcoming sessions,” Suleiman said during the Alphabet Day Conference held in the city of Jbeil.

President Michel Suleiman is holding on to his call for the political arch-foes to resume the national dialogue despite Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah's hints that the party could boycott the session.

Sources close to Suleiman told An Nahar newspaper published on Sunday that the president insists on resuming the all-party talks, pointing out that there is still time to inquire the stances of all parties before taking any decision to postpone it.

Speaker Nabih Berri's presidential elections committee violates the constitution and aims at closing the doors of the parliament in order to delay the presidential polls, the Saudi Okaz newspaper reported on Sunday.

A political source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told the daily that the three-member committee is to cover-up for Berri's attempt not to call for a session to elect a new president.

General Security chief Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim warned on Saturday of the “delicate security situation in the country,” considering that all international efforts to preserve stability “are worthless if the Lebanese don't meet them with awareness.”

"The security situation in the country is very delicate, and the presence of large numbers of Palestinian and Syrian refugees has changed all considerations and equations,” Ibrahim said in an interview with the Qatari daily Al-Raya.